Sunday, March 04, 2007

Round stamp from Morocco

Today, a round stamp from Morocco that I found in a box full of stamps on fragments at a stamp dealer in the Passage des Panoramas, in Paris.The WNS site (index of the UPU and the WADP, completed by the postal administrations themselves) gives us the issue date of 31st of October 2003 for the "Solidarity Week". Its search engine shows us that this is a yearly series of round stamp and of photographs depicting king Mohammed VI acting with solidarity. Finally, the Morocco Post's website in French explains that the Mohammed V Foundation for the solidarity works to help poor people in the country.

The round form and the perforations (4 holes on the right and left of the holes of the stamp itself) remains me of somethin French collectors know very well : this round stamp was printed by the ITVF (French public postage stamps and fiduciary values printer). ITVF initials appears on the stamp (nowadays look for his new name since 2006 : Phil@poste). In 1998, ITVF created systems of perforation to make stamp round. The first one was issued in France for the Soccer World Cup. It has quickly proposed it to his usual post client and visibly Morocco Post adopts it well.

In France, after this success (48 millions of '98 round stamps sold) and certainly to make profit of the new machines, ITVF has regularly been asking by La Poste to print yearly heart stamps for Valentine's Day since 1999, and oval ones for Rugby World Cup. French territories' post did the same.

So remember to look at the printer's name (if visible), it helps sometimes to understand how postal administrations prepared their stamps.